JxHQ: Turn and Turn Again
by DonnaJossee
Summary: After murdering Commissioner Gordon's wife, The Joker faces the death penalty—regardless of his mental health—for the first time in his life. He welcomes the consequence with open arms, while Doctor Quinzel struggles with the idea of a world without him.


**_Turn and Turn Again  
_**  
 _Worn from walking this far  
So worn from talking this much  
And what we found and what we've seen  
As the road curves down_

 _And the lights come up to meet us  
Silent for the evening  
We enter this town  
Like new born creatures_

 _Those I know I see anew  
And the space between us is reduced  
For I am human  
And you are human too_

 _So turn and turn again  
We are calling in all the ships  
Every traveler, please come home  
And tell us all that you have seen  
Break every lock to every door  
Return every gun to every draw  
So we can turn  
And turn again_

 _—All Theives_

* * *

"So that's it?" Harleen sniffles as The Joker steps away from her. "You—You're just gonna turn yourself in? After all of your hard work to stay out?" She shook her head and the green haired man glanced from her to the mass of cop cars whose red and blue lights were shining off the buildings of the city.

"Harleen." He turned to her, feeling the droplets of water falling on them, get heavier.

"The Death penalty. I spoke to Jeremiah Arkham today and the judge is considering the death penalty, J. If you go and turn yourself in, you'll most likely die." She told him.

"I know." He tilted his chin up proudly.

"I—It's not okay, Joker. It's not. I can't lose you. You can't do this to me." She cried, trying to keep calm.

"You grew up religious." He raised his brows. "Perhaps you've heard of the theory that whatever God created us, if any, gave us a specific purpose for life?"

She confirmed with a gentle nod, biting her lip anxiously.

"Maybe my purpose in life has been fulfilled." He shrugged. "Maybe I needed to raise hell to show people the joke in all of it. I think I've done that."

"Stop." Harleen cut him short. "Come back with me. Come back home with me. You don't have to do this. You can't do this to me. I—I can't live without you. You've opened my eyes to how everything works. How life works, J. I met you as a young, hopeful, naive intern and you taught me and helped me see the truth. If you turn yourself in, they'll kill you. And I can't..." She couldn't finish.

"Harley, I taught you what needed to know. Life's not fair. And this is one of those instances where it's not."

"You can not do this to me." She sobbed, shaking her head. "I can handle you being behind bars. I can take that. I know I can visit you and you'll be okay. I can't handle you being strapped down to a table and put to sleep like some animal at a vet clinic. I can't handle you not being here. I can't handle you walking away from me to go have that done to yourself. Because whether you want that or not, that's what's going to happen to you." She choked out.

J didn't know why the hell she was making it harder on herself.

They'd been seeing each other for a year, almost, and no one knew. No one suspected.

He had escaped for half of that time...and killed the commissioner's wife.

Gordon was done at that point and built a pretty impressive case against the clown, demanding he be euthanized the next time he was taken in.

The judge was reluctant at first, but the more he'd thought about it, the more he realized The Joker wasn't too far gone to avoid the death penalty...or he was and no one cared.

The Joker was currently in a phase where he was bored of civilian life and wanted to go back to Arkham. He didn't care if it meant in a body bag or not.

But Doctor Harleen Quinzel did.

"Harley—"

"—I love you. I love you and you can't leave me. Not like this. Not with GCPD having the whole city shut down, waiting for you. Not with death row waiting for you. I can't let you do this to me."

"If you try to stop me, they'll know." He grinned shining silver and she felt her heart ache.

"I don't care anymore." She told him. He laughed under his breath, looking down at his shoes. "I don't care anymore."

"Since when? Since when don't you care about what people think of you? They're gonna call you weak, you know? Unprofessional. Despicable. Psychotic?"

"My reputation is nothing compared to your life. I'd rather be known as the trashy doctor who couldn't keep her legs closed than the woman who let her boyfriend kill himself."

"You're not trashy." He looked at her and she squeezed her eyes closed. "We had a good run, but all good things must come to an end."

"You are going to let them win?" She could feel anger build up in her.

"No."

"They're going to kill you, J. I don't think you're understanding that part. They. Will. Kill. You. You will be put to death the second you're found guilty. Doctor Arkham was going through the process with me earlier today. Your life depends on the jury and they all hate you."

"Harleen," He looked at her, almost painfully. "For the longest time I've been living in circles. Doing horrific things has always been fun. It's always been how I've approached things and taught lessons. It's no longer thrilling. I don't get the rush I use to. In fact, I'm tired. For once. I'm tired. And that let's me know I've completed my task."

"Please, J." Harleen could feel her heart pounding in her chest.

The sprinkling rain was now almost heavy.

"I've gotta go." He turned on his heel to head towards the cop cars across the road.

Harleen's heart shattered as he approached closer and closer, until he picked up the yellow tape surrounding the group of cars and cops.

She couldn't stay calm.

When she saw Gordon's attention had been caught by the clown going through the tape, she ran as fast as she could to her lover.

He turned to see what she was fussing about, and she completely disregarded the cops and people around.

Her hands gripped J's face and she pulled him to her, kissing him as passionately as she possibly could.

Every single memory he had of her flashed before his eyes.

First meeting her, first flirting with her, first time kissing her, the first time sleeping with her. The first time she spent the night in his cell...the first time he heard her delicate laugh, the first time he thought he was blinded by her radiant smile.

She had so much joy, so much enthusiasm when she first met him. He wants to break her. He had wanted to rip her joy away from her, break every last drop of her spirit since the first day he met her.

And now, in that moment, as she completely damned the consequences for kissing him in front of everyone, he realized he was getting what he had wanted.

Gordon had to look again to see if he was seeing correctly.

He felt the slightest of solemness as he saw Harleen sobbing as she clung to The Joker. It didn't hit him exactly what was going on until a moment later. He realized they were together. Not just physically, emotionally. Harleen loved her patient.

The commissioner gave them a few seconds of privacy before he started to them. If he didn't remotely care for Harleen, he wouldn't have tried to be nice. But he'd handle whatever relationship was going on between them, later. At the moment, his mind was focused on getting the clown arrested. He'd deal with Harleen after.

Before he could get to Joker, the mad man looked down at the blonde woman in his arms.

" _I've served my purpose, Doc_." He mumbled before kissing her forehead and turning to see Gordon coming towards him.

"No." Harleen whispered to herself, tightly closing her eyes, tears pouring down her face as the rain fell like a crushing weight on her.

He held his hands up, placing them behind his head as he walked to the Commissioner.

Harley opened her eyes, an empty feeling washing over her as Gordon read J his Miranda rights, shoving him into a police car.


End file.
